The Effing Preservation Society was formed to archive the outstanding genius that was, is, for now and for eternity, The Effing Librarian. *cough*

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Internets and Death.

I want to kill this blog. But I don't think I have the courage.

I have a Twitter account, and other than my failed attempt to post 100 tweets in a 24-hour period, I don't use it much. But I can see that a whole world has formed on Twitter where people are living their lives at 140 characters or less.

Woody Allen says in Sleeper that he only believes in "sex and death," but I'm not so sure that sex is as important as the Internet anymore. Real life often disappoints, but the Internet is never boring. Unless you're the guy smoking the clove cigarette who believes the Internet is filled with "boring people doing boring things," then okay, maybe you should skip the Internet and try heroin. But for everyone else, the Internet is *the* drug of choice.

While blogging (what this here is) is like being a monk or a student, about self-discovery, an attempt to peek at one's own soul, microblogging (Twitter) seems to be about meeting people, saying, "Hey!" and having everyone say "Hey!" right back.

The problem is that bloggers want to be microbloggers. We want to bare our souls, but we also want people to care that we did. How much soul can you reveal in 140 characters? Not much, so microblogging isn't meant to do anything more that project a shiny surface. "I just want people to know what I'm doing. Blogging can't do that; blogging tells people what I'm thinking, and who has time for that. I want to just do, not think."

If blogging is about ideas, then microblogging is about thoughts. And who doesn't have thoughts? "I think this chair is comfy." "I think I'll call my mom." Thoughts are everywhere. But ideas, like how to make the world a better place, aren't so easy to find.

I want to see a microblogging tool that only allows three characters, ?, - and !, representing basically, any question, don't care or "meh," and any positive response.

The problem I have is that I don't have the time for microblogging. Do you know how long it takes me to strip down my message to 140 characters? I wish all microblogging was just like those blogs on LiveJournal that say "current mood is" and there's a little animated octopus or a cowboy or something looking "feisty." That's what I want my blogging/microblogging to be. Simple. And feisty.

That's why I think I'm currently twittering with my "decision cube." I want simple answers: Yes, No, Take a Break, Go Home, Stay Late, Eat more Tacos. I don't want to think about what to write; I just want it to happen. That's my goal.

And I want to give you and the world a clear and simple message: I heart you.